A.I. & Breeding

That semen tank sitting in the corner of the barn office or vet room generally goes unnoticed except for the times you are pulling out a dose of semen from one of your favorite sires.

Technology has changed how the herd is managed and decisions are made at Reuter Dairy in Peosta, Iowa, where Dan Reuter and his father, Rick, milk 900 cows with a 32,000-pound average and a somatic cell count (SCC) averaging 80,000 over the last 10 years.

Imagine yourself on the Autobahn. There is no speed limit, so you can drive as fast as you desire. What car would you want to drive? Would you feel comfortable driving your current car at max speed?

Think about the healthiest cows in your herd. What defines them as your healthiest? Is it their older age? Is it the fact they’ve never had mastitis?

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of Dairy Financial Driver Profitability Quick Tips. Information is based on work by Zoetis and Compeer Financial to analyze 11 years of herd data from 489 year-end financial and production record summaries to identify key drivers of net farm income.

Quicker pregnancies are essential to keep milk flowing and the next generation of herd replacements growing.

As more robotic barns appear across the industry, the demand for cows and heifers that have been bred for an automated milking environment is on the rise, with some breeders receiving a premium when selling heifers and cows that were bred for a robotic operation.